First Winter As A Sensei
by Lady yang
Summary: It's the holiday season, and Kakashi need to prepare for Christmas! Kakashi runs into Sasuke everyday leading up to Christmas, whether he wants to or not. He also begins to unravel the mystery of a memory, comes to terms with his love for the winter season, and may just find that he had far more parental tendencies than he once thought
1. Chapter 1

First Winter As A Sensei:

Chapter 1:

Decorations:

A/N

Yo!

This is a story set a little after Team 7's mission to the wave. It's the holiday season, and Kakashi need to prepare for Christmas!  
Kakashi runs into Sasuke everyday leading up to Christmas, whether he wants to or not.

He also begins to unravel the mystery of a memory, comes to terms with his love for the winter season, and may just find that he had far more parental tendencies than he once thought. Iruka says he's always had them, it just took a kid he cares about for him to find them.

My excuse for wanting to write something sweet and sad all twisted into the holiday season!

I hope you enjoy this story!  
My other story, "The Everlasting Winter" Isn't on hold or anything, I just had this story stuck in my head, and I couldn't get rid of it:)

 _If only my heart were as cold as I pretend it is, maybe then, I could get over this._

Kakashi was warm when he emerged from his shower. It was the peak of winter in Konoha so Kakashi kept the heat up in his home at all times.

He didn't like to come back from a mission to a bitter house, who would?

His house was big, some would even say luxurious in Konoha standards. Being an Ex-ANBU and student of the Fourth Hokage had its perks.

Kakashi liked the house he had been given by the Leaf just fine. The real problem was that it was the complete opposite of a house his father would have wanted.

Kakashi's father was a humbled man; many would go as far to say he was old-fashioned.

When Kakashi was young, he lived in a pretty good sized house, but it was still comfy, it felt lived in.

It was at the edge of the woods, and he could still imagine when his father and himself would go out looking for wood to burn. His dad always treated it like some kind of adventure, telling him spooky stories as they walked.

Kakashi's father was a kind man, but that didn't mean he was a social person. He loved being close enough to the village to help people whenever they needed it, even helping a few people who didn't, but he was a man of nature, and preferred to have a secluded place where he could whistle bird songs and watch life go by around him.

At Christmas time though, he was the liveliest he ever was. He forgot his introvert ways, and went out of his way to see people. He always said Christmas was a time when everyone deserved a bit of happiness, and if no one else was going to, he would make sure that even the unhappiest of people smiled at least once during the season. Kakashi always said he was crazy, but secretly loved seeing this side of his father, letting that side of himself show as well.

They used to spend every pay check that his father received during the month of December on food. They bought oranges of course, hundreds of oranges, canned food and other food that would last.

They would create little baskets full of food, and give them away whenever they saw someone on the street. A specific neighborhood his father seemed fond of would get the upmost special treatment.

He and his father would spend days on end, cooking fruit cake, something Kakashi nor his father enjoyed the taste of, but Sakumo just loved to cook and give away it at Christmas time. Kakashi, usually the ever questioning little boy, never asked his father why fruit cake was his choice of 'special treatment' for the little neighborhood, for he knew his father wouldn't answer. The man would normally answer all of Kakashi's many, if random, questions, but this, Kakashi didn't know if he wanted to know the answer to.

Sakumo was a calm and collected person in general, he was very affectionate, truly gentle and enthusiastic in a content sort of way about his passions. The only time he was truly excitable was at Christmas time, but when they visited that neighborhood, he would get this angry sort of look. His father wasn't usually angry. But that look in his father's eyes was dark and unhappy. It would pass when they came to the first house's door, Kakashi could always remember the first house, it just stuck out for some reason; the others all sort of blended together. Maybe it was because his father would get this humongous grin with twinkly eyes when his eyes landed on the kids in the house, looking so damn excited about Christmas and Santa, and the fact that it was snowing.

Then he would get a sweet sort of smile and crouch down and pat the kids on their heads, even whispering most secretly about hearing sleigh bells, the kids would giggle and then run off. Then the kid's moms came by the door and she would kiss his father on the cheek, which Kakashi remembered not liking at all, but his father never reacted to it, just accepted the thank you, and then handed her the fruit cake and basket of oranges and canned meals.

Kakashi remembered seeing the wisp of a girl, looking to be fourteen or fifteen. She had scabby knees and dark, hollow eyes. She looked kind of like the ghosts or spirits Sakumo always told Kakashi about.

Kakashi saw her threw the crack in the doorway, scampering into the next room. She stopped like a deer in the headlights when Kakashi caught her eye.

She smiled shyly at Kakashi, waving sweetly. Kakashi could remember seeing glimpses of her every year, as she grew she only became more beautiful, although her eyes aged in a painfully obvious way.

They would be off to the next house within minutes, but Kakashi couldn't remember what all the other houses were like. He just remembered them being similar to the first. Same small and unstable house design, same dirty looking home, same smell of something burning, nothing like his father's wooden logs burning, more like wood chips smoking, and the same grateful look in the families eyes when they were given their fruit cake and Christmas baskets.

Kakashi hadn't been back to that neighborhood since his fifth Christmas, not even sure if it still existed within the village.

He couldn't remember where they traveled to get to the neighborhood or how long it took. He could truly only remember the moments leading up to their delivery of the gifts, could only remember his father's expressions. A lot had happened between when he was five and now, so he wasn't surprised that he couldn't remember much about it, but still, he'd like to know what happened to that little family, the one with the single mother who always kissed his father on the cheek when she couldn't use words to express her gratitude.

Kakashi shook himself from thoughts of his father, and dried himself off with a towel.

He had let his mind float away again, he had been thinking about what kind of house he had, and now he was thinking of memories that he couldn't truly remember.

Kakashi went back to thinking about his house, it was safe. Thinking of ways to improve. Good. Looking toward the future. Good.

His house very modern, sat right in the middle of the village, close to the Hokage tower. Everyone knew where he lived, but people rarely visited. He had an open floor plan, kind of sophisticated looking with a piano in the living room. He didn't even know how to play piano, but it was kind of fun to walk by it every so often and hit random notes and make a whole bunch of noise.

Kakashi still didn't think it was warm enough even with his power heating system. He decided that he would have to get a fireplace installed before the winter was over.

Kakashi nodded to himself as he pulled on his Jonin uniform.

He made sure to avoid looking in the mirror until he pulled up his mask. The mirror was pre-installed when he was given the house. He had been too lazy to take it down, and not yet ready to admit that he didn't like seeing his reflection.

 _Now_ , he thought, _onto more important matters_.

What decorations he still needed to get so he could decorate his house of course!

Kakashi would deny it at gunpoint, but he he's really, _really_ into Christmas.

He makes up excuses for it of course. He wouldn't be Kakashi Hatake if he didn't. So he pretends that he does it for Guy, who refused to leave him alone during the holiday season unless he put them up, or that it was to keep in favor of the village so they don't come across his secret plans as an undercover agent searching for the weapon that will destroy the world, but every year, his home is so insanely decked out that it looks like Christmas Spirit, and Santa's Magic had a baby, and that baby threw up all over it.

Christmas lights following the entire length of his house outside. Christmas trees seeable through ever large window he has. Carols could be heard whenever anyone passed his home. A cheesy candy cane lane was propped up on the way to his door. His mailbox was wrapped in water proof wrapping paper. And of course, no matter if made from snow or mud, snowmen were decorated to look like Asuma, Kurenai, Guy, and himself standing strong, every year in his front yard.

Last but not least, Kakashi's annual Christmas party set the day before Christmas.

He had done it since he was nineteen and finally accepted the fact that he loved the holiday despite how painful the season could be.

Kakashi only really invited his friends: Asuma, Guy, and Kurenai, but that doesn't mean they are the only ones who would come.

It is an open house party, and Kakashi was always surprised by how many families and villagers always showed up.

Even Iruka always made his oddly timed appearance with Naruto in tow, grinning from ear to ear. The Hokage had even made it to the party a couple times.

Kakashi always planned a humongous feast that he guiltily still hadn't bought any ingredients for. Let alone that fact that he was still neglecting to even plan out what the hell he was going to try and cook for everyone.

The star of the night was always Asuma who dressed up as Santa Claus to greet the guests at his annual Christmas party. (Which Asuma only agreed to with hard searched blackmail, but it was worth it every year.)

It was always a lot of work, but Kakashi loved it. It was the only time of year that Kakashi would be caught dead being purposefully social.

By the end of the night, everyone who came to the party was unusually sated, happy, and usually a little tipsy.

One Year Kakashi recalled a certain jumpsuit wearing man passing out before the night was over, but that was when Kakashi had given free choice from his cabinet with quite the selection of alcoholic drinks. He doesn't do that anymore.

Kakashi smiled to himself as he strode into his large and clean kitchen. It was a sparkling white that made him feel kind of like a stuffy rich man, but he tried not to pay attention to that fact. Kurenai said she loved his kitchen, and would love to come over and cook for him. Strangely enough, that comment made him feel good, and lately he and his friends had been having a dinner night, (Kakashi was hoping to re-name their new event, but it didn't seem like anyone else cared.) Once a week on Friday, they all met up with each other and made sure to catch up with one another. One of them would have to cook the meal, and their meeting place had become most often Kakashi's home.

Kakashi opened the fridge in search of something good to eat. He felt he had a lot of hard work to look forward to this season, but he was looking forward to it none the less.

He had twelve days until the party. Kakashi mused that it was oddly fitting, and set off to meet his team after he shoved some buttered toast and pieces of bacon from the other night into his mouth.

He grabbed his heavy winter coat, and his earmuffs, any other kind of hat would totally flatten his hair, and was out the door in seconds. He was meeting his team on their bridge today, yes Kakashi had designated that bridge as theirs.

Kakahsi turned and walked through the bustling village, but he was looking for not the bridge, but someplace else.

He was Kakashi Hatake, if he was going to be properly late, he would need to find a nice detour to keep his interest.

Two and half hours later, Kakashi finally made his way toward Team 7's bridge with a trip to the graveyard to see Obito and Rin and make sure they were okay, and maybe a small detour to Granny C's bakery, under his belt.

Kakashi smirked to himself. He couldn't wait to dig into the slice of Christmas cake he had gotten at the bakery, but he made sure that his bag was safely hidden from his ever hungry eyes of his students in his satchel he wore on his back. He wasn't planning on sharing this cake. It was too delicious to even give up a small bite, let alone the 'small' bite Naruto would take from it.

"Yo," Kakashi gave a peace sign to his students when he jumped onto a ledge of the bridge, "Sorry I'm late," He broke into a cheesy smile, "You see, I was getting a haircut and the barber was determined to shave my head completely; there was a valiant fight, of course, because my hair is so sexy, and I accidentally killed him, so then I had to deal with the whole mess and bury the bod-

"LIER!"

"STOP MAKING EXCUSES!"

Both Naruto and Sakura screeched at him. Kakashi noted that Sasuke only seemed amused by elaborately made excuse to cover for why he was late.

"Now, Naruto, Sakura, it is rude to interrupt someone in the middle of a perfectly fabricated excuse." Kakashi replied nonchalantly to the screeches, nodding to himself all the while.

Sasuke smirked, "Hn, you're in an oddly good mood, Sensei?" He raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but Kakashi could tell it was all in good fun.

Kakashi often surprised himself with his genius, but he didn't usual surprise himself with his judgment.

He will admit, regrettably, but definitely never out loud, that he had been wrong. He had judged his team on first sight, and he couldn't believe what he had been proved in just the last four months.

Well, for the most part, he learned that his team gave terrible first impressions and did a horrible job of representing themselves to other people.

They were different from what he expected, but none more different than the so called stoic Uchiha.

From the minute Kakashi had been assigned team 7, he knew Sasuke would be the hardest nut to crack.

Naruto turned out to be very open about his emotions and what he thought. Sakura was very emotional, and loved long and deep talks. Sasuke though, was very introverted. He wasn't as angry as Kakashi thought he would be. Sasuke turned out to be a very sweet child when he wanted to be. Sasuke is endearingly confident but awkward and humble. He was the king of sassy comments, though he usually apologized after he made them. He was very shy as well, and yet surprisingly open? Kakashi wasn't positive if that even made sense.

If Kakashi would mark Sasuke as only one thing, (Which Kakashi made a mental note to never do) it would be unexpected.

Kakashi let his eye squint happily at his three students. Sakura and Naruto began to bicker loudly, Kakashi only caught a bit of their argument, but it only made him smile more. It seemed that Naruto had made the mistake of letting Sakura know that she looked beautiful in her winter coat. Sasuke watched them with a look that obviously said 'unbelievable' from the side.

Kakashi took this moment to look over his students, they hadn't met up in a couple days, and he wanted to make sure they were okay.

Sakura was indeed wearing a very pretty winter coat. It was red and sashed over one side of her body. It pleated out at the bottom.

Sakura also wore fluffy white and red earmuffs and matching fluffy boots.

He thought it was a little obsessive to need to have such a fancy, and matching outfit, for crying out loud, she was a ninja in training, they were supposed to be wearing rough and tumble clothes, but he made a recent vow to himself to stop insulting people and their choices in his head, so he shushed his mind.

She didn't seem to be upset, just as upbeat and attitude filled as she always was. Good.

Naruto wore….Kakashi inwardly sighed and laughed at the same time. Naruto wore a bright yellow coat that was humongous and poofy. He had slickery pants, deep blue gloves, and rubber boots. To top of his look, he also wore, Kakashi shook his head, a large frog face hat that had little tassels that fell down next to his neck, and on top of that, he had his furry hood up too.

Wait, scratch that, Naruto just pulled his hood down roughly, showing his messy blond hair trying to peek its way out of his hat.

"Ugh, finally, I feel like I can breathe. I should have done that a while ago." Naruto let a relaxed smile cross his face, only then did Kakashi notice the scarf he had wrapped around his neck as well.

Sakura looked at him with her hands on her hips.

"Hey, Naruto! That's disobeying Iruka sensei! We walked together today remember, idiot! He told you to keep up your hood!" She screeched. Kakashi kind of feared the motherly look she had in her eye right now.

Naruto pouted with a grumpy look, "Ah! I'm suffocating in all this fluff! It itches too!" He whined, but still lifted his hood up nonetheless.

Sakura leaned her weight to one hip, "He only makes you wear all that cause he cares about you. He doesn't want you to get sick!" She said smartly. In Kakashi's personal opinion, he would let the kid keep his hood down, and learn from consequence, but hey, that's why he wasn't the kid's father.

Naruto easily got distracted from whatever point he was going to make to get out of wearing his hood, and turned his attention to the raven of the group, "Hey, Sasuke bastard, why aren't you wearing a coat. I know your cold as ice already, but you don't need to freeze to death to prove your point." Naruto squinted with a confused look.

Kakashi raised a curious eyebrow to this question. He had noticed Sasuke's lack of coat too. In fact, he hadn't worn a coat yet this year. Kakashi wondered if this was just his way of proving some point, or maybe it was something the new generation did to be cool. Kakashi didn't think freezing one's ass off was cool. He was really interested to hear Sasuke's excuse.

Sasuke for his part, at least looked a little guilty, though not nearly enough in Kakashi's opinion.

It was only getting colder out, and Sasuke had spent days working outside on missions. He wasn't taking care of himself, and for what? Some principle? Kakashi was not impressed.

Sasuke shifted his weight on his feet and then looked away with an indignant noise leaving his throat.

"What's it to you, dobe." He said, cleverly avoiding the question.

Naruto seemed to forget his earlier reluctance to wear all his layers and actively shivered.

"But it's FREEZING out here! How are you even surviving?!" He said dramatically.

Sasuke brushed him off, "Whatever," He then turned his attention to Kakashi, "Do we have a mission today?"

Ah, the old re-direct the conversation and avoid the topic you don't want to talk about tactic.

It worried Kakashi how good Sasuke already was at this, even more worrying how much it reminded the man of a younger version of himself.

Kakashi moved passed on the topic like Sasuke wanted, it probably wouldn't do any good to force this conversation right now. Sasuke was stubborn like an ox, and when pushed, acted like moving was the last thing on earth he'd like to do. So Kakashi just tied that conversation to the back of his head, and contented himself with bringing it up later.

He clapped his hands together deviously.

This was going to be fun.

Kakashi sighed loudly and slowly went down the latter that was leant up against his house for the first time in two whole hours.

Team 7 didn't really have a mission today. If they did, it would probably be more D rank missions anyway. They hadn't been allowed to be sent on anything else since their catastrophic mission to the wave.

So Kakashi decided instead of doing regular training, that it might be fun to do something in the spirit of the season, and if Kakashi wanted a couple extra hands to help decorate his home, then that was fine to.

Yes, Team 7's latest mission was to decorate Kakashi's home for Christmas.

And Kakashi felt that it may have been more efficient to go at it alone, for his team was very opinionated. Something, he really should have expected. They had a lot of thoughts about where things should go, and many, many, ideas of more things Kakashi should purchase to make the house even better.

Kakashi was happy to report that they all seemed enthusiastic about helping, but how much they were helping was truly exhausting if you were the one up on the latter moving things two inches to the right and then three to the left, until it was _just_ right.

Yeah, the more Kakashi thought about it, the closer he became to regretting inviting them into this activity.

"Kakashi sensei!" Sakura said confused when he got down to ground level, "Why are you down here, we're not near done yet!"

Kakashi rubbed a hand down his face. _Maybe he was getting old, how did these kids still have energy?_

Sasuke appeared at his side, looking to have an unfair amount of energy as well.

He had been Kakashi's partner in holding up the decorations for Sakura and Naruto's inspection.

There was one piece where Kakashi thought he held it there for ten minutes just because the two couldn't agree which way looked better!

Sasuke hadn't complained once, not even a snide remark! Kakashi felt like he had been betrayed at points because Sasuke even egged them on. Kakashi couldn't be too exasperated with the kid though, because he hadn't seen Sasuke this interested in anything since he showed him his book collection.

Sasuke was actually smiling for most of what Kakashi would label as torture, otherwise he looked in awe and curiosity. Almost always nodding as if trying to figure is all out. Like when Sakura and Naruto unanimously agreed that 'all the lights should go at the front and next to the porch, but reindeer with lights just have to be on the roof!' That was decided after they had already plugged in and rearranged the reindeer next to the light pole!

"Oh, are we done, sensei?" Sasuke asked with a tilted head, looking too much like a curious puppy for Kakashi to handle at the moment. He had his hands tucked around his chest as if hugging himself.

Kakashi rolled his head in a circle, every inch of movement cracked his neck, relieving pounds of tension.

"Yeah, for now." And before they could all interrupt with their own opinions, "No, not forever, we'll come back to this after some lunch so you can obsess some more about where a piece of tinsel should be put. I just a need a little break, okay." Kakashi elaborated while stretching his aching muscles.

 _Note to self, standing in a stiff crouched position for four hours is a bad idea._

"HEY!" Naruto shouted, "Are you saying you need a break from decorating or a break from us?!" Naruto glared with such squinted eyes, they practically turned into lines. He crossed his arms defensively.

"God, your making me feel like I'm the Grinch!" Both Sakura and Naruto laughed gleefully at the joke. That little moment sent a tendril of warmth through Kakashi.

Sasuke didn't laugh though. If anything, he looked confused.

"Who?" He asked while pushing his head forward in way that almost resembled a chicken. His eyes were like golf balls and his lips small. It was probably the most endearing sight Kakashi had ever had the pleasure of seeing.

All, Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto stared at him, and then-

Naruto slapped Sasuke roughly on the back, laughing loudly.

"Haha, good one Sasuke!"

Sasuke only seemed to get confused farther, but then let out a snort.

"You all are weird." The cheesy smile he wore spread across his whole face and danced in his eyes.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the two boys, "Um, Sensei?" She wrung her hands together, "Can we go inside, I'm starting to get cold."

She glanced over at Sasuke as if he would come over to comfort her, maybe try and keep her warm, but Sasuke didn't react so she gave up the cute act and added, "and I'm starving! I think I could eat more ramen than Naruto after all that work!"

Sasuke nodded his head in agreement, but Naruto looked offended.

"More ramen than me!? Impossible!"

Kakashi tuned him out, "Yeah yeah," He waved a hand nonchalantly, "Okay, let's get inside, I'll make us some soup or something."

'Soup or something' ended up being turkey sandwiches for Kakashi in all his attempts to cook some nice warm soup, only ended up with a scorched pot and hungry students.

Later that evening, the Sasuke and Kakashi lay around carelessly on the porch.

Sakura and Naruto both begrudgingly went home to meet their parents for dinner.

Bodies lying limp, brains feeling dull, the two left of team 7 took their opportunity at getting some nice and quiet now that Sakura and Naruto were gone.

Kakashi still had a pen and paper next to his head, every so often adding to his grocery list for the party.

Sasuke lifted his head from where he lay.

"I say forget about making a menu." he said, looking alarmingly tired, curled in on himself, "Just make turkey sandwiches and be done."

Kakashi snorted from where he was sprawled out next to Sasuke crouching.

"Tch, Duly noted."

Kakashi looked at Sasuke over his shoulder.

"Ya keep that attitude up Sasuke, and you won't be getting anything other than turkey sandwiches at the feast."

Sasuke smiled lopsidedly, but then his body perked up, "Wait, am I invited to your party?"

Kakashi sat up completely, he wanted to see Sasuke's face to make sure he was serious.

He scoffed, "Well yeah you're invited. All three of you insanely annoying genin are."

Sasuke's eyes lit up at the notion of being allowed to attend the party, totally bypassing the fact he was just referred to as annoying and insane.

His eyes were so bright that Kakashi had to look away as to not be blinded, and for a moment Kakashi felt an uncertain pang in his chest.

"Though I expect you three to be on your best behavior." He nodded to himself impressed with how responsible he sounded.

Sasuke nodded his head so fast, Kakashi was worried he had dislocated his neck.

"Of course Kakashi Sensei. Though, you must know by now, that I have no power in controlling Sakura and Naruto's behavior."

Kakashi snorted, and Sasuke smirked with a mirth that was really to adult like to be worn on such a young face.

Kakashi grinned then, "So, you coming to party then, or are you too cool for it?" He asked, just because he knew it would get on the kid's nerves.

Sasuke sat up straight, "No, no, I would love to go, honest!" He even put up his head, as if ready for salute.

Kakashi couldn't help but feel warmth and yet a twisted sense of unease go through his chest at Sasuke's eagerness.

Why Sasuke decided to latch his earnest heart to himself, he would never understand. Sasuke was the pain in the ass kid you could find, always putting himself in danger for other people, and worrying Kakashi many more times than he'd like to admit, he couldn't say he didn't enjoy the delicate and yet abrupt rope Sasuke so easily weaseled onto Kakashi's neck.

Sasuke shivered noticeably and his breath came out in a white puff.

Kakashi was surprised by this fact, he hadn't noticed it had gotten this cold out yet. And the kid was still in his damn turtle neck, no coat or hat.

Kakashi thought about bringing it up now. They were alone. It was the perfect time to talk about this. Maybe knock some sense into the kid.

But then Kakashi looked at Sasuke.

He was looking off into space, and he had a dopey and yet sweet smile on his face. Kakashi thought softly, _This conversation can wait…._

Kakashi hit his head back against the ground, abruptly laying back down.

Sasuke jumped a foot in the air from where he sat, but it did successfully pull Sasuke from his day dreams.

"Thanks Sensei."

"For what kid?' Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sasuke stood up, and shrugged, "See you later Sensei."

Sasuke waved a hand behind him and then ran off. It was dark, so only after a couple hundred feet, Kakashi lost sight of the boy.

Kakashi closed his eyes and hit the back of his head against the ground a couple times.

Eventually, he stood and made his way back inside.

Not before he plugged in the lights to his house and made to stand back so he could see them.

The house lit spectacularly.

Sakura and Naruto really did have an eye for this kind of thing. Maybe Kakashi would have to help them make a business out of it.

Then Kakashi shook his head, _No way! There is no doubt in my mind that I would end up being their grunt work guy for the rest of eternity! Oh, and he would never open that door of eternal torture for Sasuke as well!_

Kakashi shivered, _damn, it is cold._

He rubbed and hand down his face while making his way back inside picking up his groceries list while he did so.

At least that's one thing on the list done.

Decorating house complete.

A/N

Thank you so much for reading! I will have the next chapters up soon:)

Tell me what you guys think of the first chapter!  
There will be thirteen in all:)


	2. Chapter 2: Icicles On Eyelashes:

2

Icicles on eyelashes:

Warning: Old man boldness. There is also two vulgar words, that I don't usually use in my writing. I don't really like them, but I felt like this certain character would use them, so I apologize if that offends anyone. Warning for language-

 _A little bit of kindness can make someone's world a lot less cold and lot more just._

A problem became apparent the next day when Kakashi was directing missions for his team.

It wasn't obvious at first, but now that Kakashi really thought about it, he should have made a move a lot sooner.

It started small, with a trouble-free D ranked mission.

Kakashi met his team at their bridge and told them they had a fun filled day of D rank missions.

You can guess that his team of genin were more than a little frustrated with this information. Even Sasuke seemed depressed by the fact that they wouldn't be decorating Christmas decorations again.

He told them with a grim smile to suck it up and work through their problems and pride on their own time.

Kakashi wouldn't lie though, his view of the day ahead wasn't too sunny either.

The first mission involved a healthy serving of hard work and endurance as did the three other missions he scheduled.

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke gaped when they arrived at the large farm like house at the edge of the village where there was actually space to own that kind of home.

"We-" Naruto spoke with complete shock in his voice.

"Have to clean-" Sakura squeaked out next.

"This place?" Sasuke's large eyes were practically bugging out of his head.

Kakashi smiled, "No, we just have to clean the outside of it." He tried to stay positive for a change.

Naruto lowered his head and said in a small, defeated voice, "That means we have to rank the leaves, wash the windows, clean the gutters, and fix that broken bench too, doesn't it?"

Kakashi suddenly lowered his shoulders in exhaustion, "Yes, yes it does."

Positivity sucks.

Sakura walked towards the house, and scrunched her nose, "The owners haven't taken very good care of this place. Look." She pointed to the broken window on the side of the house, "We're going to have to fix that."

Kakashi nodded, "Yes well, they have been on vacation for the last summer and fall. They got back and were surprised that their home had fallen into such…condition"

It wasn't surprisingly for the owners to leave for so long. Konoha's summers were as scorching as its winters were bitter.

Sasuke agreed, looking as if making a mental list in his head, "Yeah, and I think we will need to re-paint the garage too, it's all peeling off."

Naruto fell to his knees, "NO! Shut up Sasuke! Stop making more work for us!" He whimpered from his place on the ground.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Kakashi decided to speak before anything could happen.

"We should divide and conquer-"

Sakura perked up, "Good idea sensei! I already have a plan if that's okay."

Kakashi sighed internally and gestured for the pinkette to continue.

She smiled sweetly, "I think I should take cleaning the windows because out of us three I have best control over wall walking," Naruto began to protest, but Sasuke silenced him with a jab in the side with a chakra filled finger. Sakura continued, "Sasuke should paint the garage and fix the bench because he is so precise and artistic." She sent a mischievous glance towards Sasuke, but just as always, Sasuke wasn't affected by her, she huffed, "He also noticed the garage needed painting so he should have to do it." Naruto snickered from Sasuke's left, but Sasuke looked wide eyed before masking it with an indifferent look. Sakura pushed her hair behind her ear, "and I think Kakashi sensei can clean the gutters best because he is good with water technic, and fix the window because the glass could be dangerous." She stated knowledgeably.

Naruto bounced beside her, "Oh, oh, oh, Sakura, what does that mean I get!" He seemed to regain his ever enthusiastic nature again.

Sakura crossed her arms, "And Naruto can rake up all the smelly leaves!" She wore a self-satisfied smile while Naruto put his head in his hands.

The three genin went right into working, going their separate ways and doing what was asked of them. It shocked Kakashi still for a moment.

 _Why don't they follow my orders like that!?_

Sasuke and Naruto couldn't conform with orders or rules to save their lives.

But there they go, totally fine with listening to whatever demeaning job Sakura sent them on.

Kakashi rubbed his temples, but was ultimately unsurprised. She had shown herself to be so much more helpful than what was first believed.

She was always organized, and had a plan in mind. She had a real gift in leading, if she gained the confidence and the temper for it, she could do great things one day.

Kakashi accepted his fate and went to work.

The first signs that something was wrong came when Kakashi looked down from where he was cleaning the gutter to see Sasuke with rose red cheeks and looking to be miserable, though he never ceased in working. While Kakashi felt a shiver run up his spine every now and then, he wasn't cold. Sakura and Naruto looked downright jolly while working, belting lyrics to their favorite holiday tunes.

They were dressed in the same clothing as the day before, but Sakura seemed to have put on another layer underneath her coat, and Naruto shed a layer so he would be able to move with any kind of finesse.

But Sasuke… Kakashi ground his teeth to stop from scolding the boy. He wasn't wearing any fucking proper winter gear.

He himself was wearing his coat, his ear muffs, and thick gloves on his hands.

There had been a recent drop in temperature, a cold front swept in as usual Konoha winters would go. The news said it was supposed to start snowing soon, possibly two or three days from now.

Kakashi had to give the boy a little credit though, he was wearing more clothing than the days before.

He had a long sleeved turtle neck, Kakashi couldn't tell if he had two or three tee-shirts on underneath it, he could only see the outline of the shirt by the puffiness of his sleeves, (Kakashi silently hoped it was two shirts though) It was barely thrity degrees out!

He wore a tiny sock hat that barely covered his ears, it was probably why his face was so red, and the worst was that he didn't have any gloves! His bare hands shook in the cold as he tried to wield his paint brush to make even strokes.

But Kakashi didn't say anything.

He didn't say anything, because it wasn't his place. He wasn't the kid's father, (Ew, Kakashi didn't like the feeling that went through him at the thought. Much too warm and fuzzy.)

Kakashi instead busied himself with cleaning gutters and listening to his teammate's loud and obnoxious singing.

Kakashi looked back to Sasuke when he heard a soft noise coming from him.

He watched in awe as Sasuke sang softly to the song that Naruto and Sakura were blasting from their lungs.

 _I wish I had a river._

 _I could skate away on_

 _I wish I had a river so long_

 _I could teach my feet to fly_

 _Oh, I wish I had a river_

 _I could skate away on._

Twenty clone Narutos screeched the lyrics from the left side of him, so he could barely hear Sasuke's soft words, but he could see his face as he took in the lyrics. It was almost as if he was breathing them in, and living it.

Kakashi shrugged, _weird metaphor on my part…._

He turned back to his own job, but not soon enough it seemed, for Sasuke caught his eye, and smiled with a tilted head at him.

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow at him; Sasuke flashed his eyes over to where the Narutos were singing, and he shook his head, pleased. Kakashi's smirk in return was wry , and Sasuke stuck his tongue out at him.

Kakashi wrinkled his nose, and Sasuke rolled his eyes all the way back to the project he was working on, and began painting straight lines again, though Kakashi could still see the small quiver in his fingers.

Kakashi loved their silent conversations. It always made him smile, the way he and Sasuke could communicate so effortlessly. Not to mention it drove Sakura and Naruto crazy!

There were many other moments when Kakashi could have said something. Like earlier when they had cleaned up a civilian park full of litter, and towards the ending, whenever Sasuke squatted to pick something up, he would come up and have a sort of disoriented look on his face. He stumbled a couple times as well.

Then on their third mission, when they harvested a section of Kohnoha's winter crops, Kakashi looked up to find Sasuke holding his hands to his face and breathing on them every time he would pick something. He would blow on his hands, and look down with determination and dig up an onion, and then breathe on his hands again. Kakashi started to get a bad feeling, but he was distracted by his little blonde teammate.

Naruto's shadow clones were a blessing and a curse.

Kakashi didn't know what was worse, the extra man labor that would have occurred without the clones, or the headache he was sporting now after two hours of babbling Narutos.

They were on their fourth D rank mission of the day and luckily for Kakashi's tired mind, it was their last.

Their job was to go north of the village, and shovel snow for a small town that just survived a snowstorm. The mission said it wasn't that bad of storm, but it was pretty terrible from what Kakashi could tell. It was only two hours to the village, and while Konoha hadn't had its first snow yet, it seemed like this place was suffering from the cold pretty bad.

The temperature had to have dropped, Kakashi was sure. He was starting to shiver too.

He looked at his team with resolve. This would not be fun, but they were helping people and that made everything they did as ninja worth it.

Sakura and Naruto seemed cold, but Sasuke looked frozen, and they hadn't even started working yet.

His teeth were chattering, he didn't look like he could stop it if he wanted to, and it looked like the next gust of cold wind that came would knock the boy over.

The worst part of it all, was that it was still snowing!

They needed to get the job done before more snow came and actually buried the homes. Now, it just looked like there was a big snow, and some of the homes were iced shut even, but if the snow continued at this pace, and no one tried to move anything, they would be snowed in for at least a week.

Kakashi's own throat hurt from breathing in the cold air, and he had a scarf around his neck; he couldn't imagine what Sasuke was going through.

He couldn't give Sasuke his coat or anything, Sasuke would see it as pity, and make it his mission to pretend to not be cold and only suffer more. That boy was too stubborn sometimes. Too prideful. Kakashi would ultimately know that Sasuke would never take something Kakashi was wearing for the biggest reason of it not being fair that he would give away the things keeping him warm to help someone else, but still.

Sakura and Naruto even started to worry as Sasuke hobbled down the street with his hands deep in his pockets.

The street was quiet, nothing disturbed the road at all. It was almost eerie what with the way everything was completely silent, as if no one lived there at all.

Kakashi grits his teeth and sent a smile to his team.

 _Positive attitude will breed a positive life._

Kakashi didn't truly believe this, but Guy had been drilling him the other day, and one of his idioms that stood out most was that. It sounded like it would be nice if it was true, but maybe it was. Guy was positive, Guy was happy.

Kakashi sighed one last time before crunching his way through the snow to Sasuke.

Sasuke wasn't even looking at him, probably didn't realize he was there. He was too busy watching Naruto as the boy threw snow off the ground into the air and spun around in circles underneath it.

Sasuke didn't look like he understood this activity, but looked as pleased as he could while shaking where he stood.

Kakashi didn't think twice about his next action.

That kid needed to start taking care of himself, but because Kakashi couldn't control that, he took his revenge in messing with him.

Kakashi smiled mischievously.

Sasuke's head was still turned so Kakashi thought that was an automatic heads up to scare the shit out of the kid.

Kakashi wasn't a saint okay, scaring Sasuke was always funny. It started when Sasuke and himself had went on a rampage trying to scare Naruto on Halloween; it was only fair that Kakashi teamed up with Naruto and freaked the kid out for the rest of the season afterward. And they did.

Kakashi snuck up and grabbed the kid by the shoulders. Kakashi was instantly aware of the cold temperature radiating off the boy even through the long sleeved turtle neck he was sporting.

Sasuke jumped just like he was supposed to, about a foot in the air, squawking indignantly like a kitten who had been thrown into the water.

Kakashi grinned wanly and scratched his head.

"Yo," he put his iconic peace sign in place, "What's up?"

Sasuke put his hand on his hip and glared at Kakahsi.

His cheeks were bright red with embarrassment at how he had reacted, or maybe that was just cold. Sasuke usually wasn't that easy to embarrass but Kakashi's grin widened anyway. Sasuke couldn't tell for his mask in place though.

Sasuke had trouble staying angry and eventually huffed with a small smile and shake of the head.

"I'm sooo going to get you back for that." He said with his little smirk in place.

Kakashi shook his head, but didn't deny the unlikely hope Sasuke had of ever scaring his sensei. Kakashi knew it would never happen.

"You look cold." He stated plainly, and took his opportunity where Sasuke was searching for a response, and plopped his ear muffs onto his head.

Sasuke went rigid, but didn't immediately take off that headpiece.

Kakashi could practically see a little bit of warmth flush back into Sasuke.

"You shouldn't be cold either." Sasuke muttered after a moment.

Kakashi just shook his head, "Uh huh, I'll be fine, my coat has a hood. I just don't wear it because it messes with my fabulous hair." It was true of course, he did have a hood, but it wouldn't be as warm as having his special earmuffs. Kakashi almost wanted them back when he felt the bitter cold nip at his ears.

But then Sasuke smiled shyly, nuzzling into it a little, and suddenly it was all worth it.

"Thank you sensei. Tell me if you want them back." Kakashi nodded, but he had already made up his mind that he wouldn't take them even if the boy insisted on it.

"You look like Rudolf right now!" Naruto spoke blatantly loud from beside Sasuke, having trotted up a couple moments before, "except like your whole face is his nose!" Naruto burst into laughter, and Sasuke looked confused, but chuckled and started humming the Rudolf song.

"Okay. Let's get to work!" Sakura said with shining eyes.

Kakashi worried for how much she enjoyed these D rank missions.

They met up with some other volunteers from the neighborhood and took the shovels the groups had left over. Luckily, there were many extra shovels and Naruto's clones all gallivanted over take them one by one.

Kakashi reminded himself to make sure to keep an eye on Naruto's chakra stamina, see how long the boy could go without exhausting himself.

It wasn't really so bad a first. Naruto started singing Christmas songs, and this seemed to cheer up the more outgoing volunteers, and some even sang with him.

Naruto basked in the attention of all the young adult volunteers, and Sakura went straight to the boss of this mission. She started making plans on where they needed to shovel, and time limits, times for breaks, but it wasn't bothering the man like Kakashi thought it would. In fact, he seemed like he really appreciated the help. Looking at her in awe as she spewed about an organized schedule and plan about next year being prepared for this to happen and finding the best ways to prevent it.

Sasuke, not too surprisingly, took a lot a little ways away from the people. He wasn't really far away, just enough that they wouldn't talk to him, but he could still hear their singing. The real shock came by the fact that Sasuke had chosen a spot next to an old scruffy looking volunteer. The man looked to be the oldest there, but he was working the hardest, not even stopping when there team had joined the rumble. He shoveled none stop with a look of resilience in his eyes. He wore so many layers that you could barely see his face, but what you could see was hardened and angry.

Kakashi watched his team from a distance while he shoveled. He needed to keep an eye on them, make sure they stayed out of the trouble they loved to get in so much.

Everything was going surprisingly well despite the tiredness in Kakashi's bones from a full day of literal work.

Kakashi was most amused by watching Sasuke interacting with the old guy.

He kind of looked like a hobo to Kakashi, but either Sasuke didn't to notice, or he didn't mind.

They talked very little while the two worked, but maybe that was the reason this little arrangement was working. The man was grumpy and sarcastic from what Kakashi could tell. A rough man, that didn't see much good in anything. He could tell that Sasuke thought it was funny, and probably didn't take offence to anything the guy said, though most people would.

Kakashi scooted closer when he noticed the two had stopped working for the first time in the last two hours. Sasuke was a hard worker, so the sensei wasn't surprised with the insanely large amount of snow they shoveled.

Kakashi's lips twitched when he heard the conversation that they were having.

The man pulled out a photograph and held it out for Sasuke to see.

Sasuke tilted his head as he stared at the picture, and then up at the man, and smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

"She's a beauty." His smile turned even brighter with a flash of his teeth.

"Yeah, yeah, kid, don't get cheeky with me, I might just regret this."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but lost his smile.

"So kid, as I was saying, my wife and I's first date was a complete disaster. Her father hated me! He was glaring at me as I picked up my girl, and when I was bringing her back, he was still a glaring! Though we were drenching wet, so I can't blame him!" He stopped and gave a graveling laugh, one that was probably loud and boisterous in his youth.

Sasuke was smiling as well, his shoulders shaking with soft laughter.

"You see, I pushed her in the lake, and hell like that was a good idea! She was so mad, she tackled me to the ground, and it actually kind of hurt, then she dragged me into the water with her." The man was starting to blush even as he tried to play it off as nothing.

Sasuke looked disbelieving at the man, but impressed all the same.

"She was strong, okay! One of the strongest women I ever met, right after my mama of course. She was an independent young woman, probably the most self-sufficient little thing nobodys ever seen. She worked hard every day and never let nothing stop her. If anyone was going to do the courting in the relationship, it was going to be her." He laughed again, seeming to be happier than he had in a long time.

Sasuke looked at the man in some sort of longing way. Kakashi couldn't really place the look, but he seemed in awe at the story being told. He was truly interested, and seeming to be admiring the man's wife, but maybe it was his life as a whole.

The man seemed to think of another story he wanted to tell, and he went right into it, just happy that someone was listening to him. Though it didn't show on his gruff, and graying face of course, but Kakashi could hear it in the fondness of his voice.

"She tried to make me and my buddies chili one time. Now, you didn't hear this from me, but my recipe for chili is the best, but she was a saying all this crazy stuff about wanting to make me something, and since I liked chili so much and it was cold, she should make it for me and my friends." He made a dramatic face and threw up his hands, "OH!" He moaned in misery, "It was terrible! It was like eating fire, a little scorched at the bottom too! My buddy and I had just gotten done with a work out, and came in the kitchen to find her smiling face. I couldn't resist that, you'll know what that's like when you find the person you're going to be spending your life with, but anyway, we both sat down, me and my buddy and took a sip. Even just the littlest bit would burn your whole mouth. My buddy was too sweet a guy to tell her though, so he sucked down the entire bowl. I wasn't go to be the one to tell her, no way in the world was I crushing that hopeful look on her face, so I did the same, chugging a water as I went!"

Sasuke was silently laughing, "Why would you do that? Did she find out you didn't like it?"

The old man shook his head disdainfully, "Then my girl sat down with her own bowl. She took one sip and she was running to the sink to spit it out. It was terrible, she was so mad at me, and upset with herself. She apologized for making us eat something like that, and seemed so sorry and sad. But when my buddy left, she rounded on me like a spit fire. She was yelling about how she embarrassed herself because of me, and that I should have told her it was gross, and in the least not let my buddy eat it!" He was laughing himself breathless now.

Sasuke's cheeks were still bright red, but it had spread to his fingers too, he had a faraway look on his face, as if trying to imagine the scenario, or record it in his brain for eternity.

Once their laughter died down, the man took on a serious look.

"Even when her hair was gray, she never lost her fire. She was the most amazing woman I ever met."

Sasuke was smiling shyly now.

The man swallowed thickly and took the picture back, stuffing it into his coat with a sad look in his eyes.

"I was married 50 years, I swear no amount time with her could be enough."

Sasuke nodded, looking honestly sad at what the man was implying.

Sasuke opened his mouth, but the man cut him off, "Nope, don't say nothing." He said dismissively.

Sasuke shut his mouth for a moment, but didn't look like he wanted to.

The man's voice was gruff when he spoke again, sounding like a growl, dismissive. "Well," He cleared his throat inside of a cough, "We should get back to work."

Sasuke nodded without complaint, and picked up his shovel that was stuck in the snow.

The man still hadn't moved though, and Sasuke bent his head down so he could see inside the man's hood.

Whatever he saw seemed to have made up Sasuke's mind, and he shoved his shovel back in the snow.

"She sounds like she was lucky to have someone like you." He said earnestly despite his nonchalant demeanor.

The man chuckled, but it was bitter.

"I was the lucky one, feels like I still am too."

Sasuke nodded, and picked back up his shovel, so did the man.

"So kid, you're a pretty handsome fellow, got a girl yet?" the old man asked curiously, he had a mischievous look about him, despite the fact that he was asking like he was innocent.

Sasuke couldn't be any redder at the moment, but Kakashi was sure he would be blushing if he could.

Wait. It seemed like the universe was trying to prove statistics wrong, Sasuke actually became one shade brighter.

He sputtered with his head low and big eyes wide like a deer.

"No!"

The man didn't seem to mind the statement, tilting his head a little, "Oh, you got a fellow under your on then?"

Sasuke eyes widened, "Oh, no, well I- I don't mind- but, it's a girl, I mean we've talked- but it's not like, you know, and I- ." the man laughed hard enough to bring out his smokers cough.

He slapped the kid on the back, "With an attitude like that, you have no chance to have a girlfriend or a boyfriend whichever you choose! Ha! You got to be confident kid."

Sasuke ducked his head shyly.

The man sighed, "What's she like?"

Kakashi's ears perked at this. Sasuke, at least to his knowledge, wasn't interested in anyone. But from the way Sasuke was acting, he definitely seemed to have someone in mind.

He really felt like he shouldn't be listening to this conversation, but…..more blackmail for his students. Oh, how he wished Naruto was here.

Sasuke scratched the back of his burning neck, the red reaching his ears now.

"Well, I just really like her, and she's like super tough, but nice at the same time, but also like really cool."

The man raised an unimpressed eyebrow and turned back to shoveling.

"What the fuck? What's wrong with kid's today, they can't even express themselves correctly. She's cool? That's it? What does that even mean." he said disgustedly.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair, and the two rang back into silence.

Kakashi for a long moment tried to figure out who Sasuke was talking about.

He was disappointed to find that he had no clue?

Was it Sakura? No, he never treated her like he 'like liked' her. Kakashi felt like a child for even thinking something like 'like liked' but he couldn't think of another word to describe it at this crucial moment in time.

Sasuke like someone!

Eventually, Kakashi went back to shoveling on his own, and soon, they were done for the day.

He gathered Sakura and Naruto, and told them to go wait by the truck of shovels while he retrieved Sasuke who hadn't come to them yet.

As expected, Kakashi found Sasuke with the old guy, starting to take out salt and pour it on the streets.

Kakashi almost interrupted and told Sasuke it was time to go, but then the old guy turned to Sasuke, slipping off his baggy brown coat. It was patched everywhere, and was discolored or stained on at least half of it, not to mention the smoky smell Kakashi assumed it would have.

The man turned and pushed the coat toward Sasuke with a stern look.

Sasuke looked shocked and didn't take it.

Sasuke shook his head mutely, like he already knew what the man was trying to do.

The man rolled his eyes, "Kid, your taking this one way or another." He said viciously, almost like a threat, but Sasuke didn't seem scared. Maybe it was because of the awkward, yet earnest look the man was wearing.

Sasuke glared at the man, but couldn't come up with a response. He still didn't take the coat, leaning his head on one shoulder defiantly.

"Fine." The man threw the coat on Sasuke's shoulder and then crossed his arms.

"I'm giving you this and you better take good care of it just like I had. This was my daddy's."

Sasuke was shocked still and tried to shove it back into the man's hands like the coat was poison. "I'm not taking your coat." He glared at the man stubbornly.

The man snorted, "Your taking it and that's final, but you're not getting it for free."

Sasuke looked completely bewildered, "Uh."

The man nodded his head, "Yep, you're going to come down here on the weekends. My kids are all grown, and I need a little extra help around the house. You've got energy and from what I can tell, skill. Your helping me, and in return you get my nice coat, and advice on getting a girl. From the way you're going, you have no chance."

Sasuke nodded dumbly, "Um. O-okay" he finally seemed to accept his fate, as long as the man was at least getting something out of it.

He took the coat in his hands tentatively as if it would disappear. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet kid, I don't know if I'll be able to score you a date after all, you seem like a real pussy."

Sasuke sputtered, shocked, but quickly masked it with a scowl.

"Don't take it too personally kid, most boys your age are. If anything, you should feel honored, I see potential in you."

Sasuke laughed, he looked so confused, kind of offended, but grateful all the same.

"Get going kid, I think your team's waiting for you to leave."

Sasuke nodded and began to walk away, but the man yelled at him, "Put on the coat, stupid!"

Sasuke quickly rushed to put on the coat. It was humongous on his short frame, going down to his knees. He looked completely ridiculous.

Sasuke then ran off, but looked back once, "See you Saturday?" the man nodded and Sasuke waved and then went to the truck where Sakura and Naruto were both waiting, seeming to be bickering, Kakashi couldn't tell for sure.

Once Sasuke was enraptured in the other two's argument, (Trying to break it up in the way that used the least amount of energy) Kakashi made his presence to the man apparent with a clear of throat.

The man looked up from where he was randomly placing salt around the ground.

"What do you want?" He said irritated.

Kakashi wasn't at all perturbed by the bad attitude, and said what he wanted to say.

"You didn't have to do that, you know. Giving him the coat I mean…. and the job." Kakashi said offhandedly. He wasn't too sure that Sasuke should be going to visit this stranger on weekends. He seemed suspicious, but it definitely wasn't jealousy talking.

The man scoffed, nice and loud, with a sound of thick spit in his throat.

He made an ugly face, "Yeah, I did have to, because no one else was gonna."

Kakashi flinched at that statement, not expecting it from the old man.

Before Kakashi could defend himself, the man continued.

"That kid that you didn't want me to give my coat to, was freezing his ass off out here, you know that right? He didn't stop working once, and I didn't hear him complaining, and you definitely weren't giving him anything warm to wear either. Why would you let your kid out here in a thin little shirt like that? What kind of parent are you?"

Kakashi was struck dumb.

Parent? Kakashi wasn't his parent?

Where did he even get that idea?

His eyes were wide, and jaw lack but still closed.

"Mm? You retarded or what?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No."

The man sneered at him, "No what?"

"No he's not my son. I mean- I'm not his parent, we're not related." Kakashi said angrily.

The man glared hard at him, and for a moment he felt like the old guy could see right through to his soul.

"That don't mean nothing. The kid told me very little, he barely spoke in full sentences and didn't talk about himself, but for some reason, he talked about you of all things."

Kakashi was shocked, but he quickly looked back to where Sasuke was. He was leaning against the truck, nuzzling into the big coat like it was a life line. He could practically see the life come back to his being.

Then he was grinning at something Naruto said, and the two laughed while Sakura pouted. Then they all laughed, and there was a light in Sasuke's eyes that wasn't usually there.

Kakashi guessed that it had something to do with the old man glaring daggers at him now. Because a stranger cared about him. A stranger saw what Sasuke needed, like himself, Kakashi rationalized. But the difference was, that this old guy was brave enough to act on it. He had actually helped the kid, while Kakashi stood by and watched.

It wasn't his job though, he reminded himself. He was a sensei, not a parent.

"Yeah, but I'm his sensei. I don't dictate his personal choices."

The man shook his head roughly, "He looks up to you. I could tell from the way he talked, and occasionally looked back at you too. It was kind of annoying." He shrugged off his last statement, "The point is, he respects you, and cares about you. And don't act like you don't know it. Now buckle down like a man and next time you see him being stupid, help him. He's got no parents to steer him into the right, no parents to make sure when he falls he gets back up, and no parents to care about him either. Now I don't know about you, but I see a good kid in him, but he needs someone to help him along the way. You may not like the circumstances, but he chose you. I couldn't choose my kids, just had to wait for the universe to do its job and bring them to me, and you don't either. That kid chose you, and you can either cower away from the position, or you can stand up and be there for him when he needs it. Which is it going to be?"

Kakashi blinked, shaking where he stood.

"But i-"

The man cut him off, and damn was that getting annoying.

"No buts, it's a yes or no question. The kid deserves someone great, and if you can't pull that off, than get the hell out, he doesn't needs no one half assing him like this."

Kakashi felt like he had been stabbed. His chest was tight, and his shoulders tense. He could barely control his breathing. He scrubbed a hand through his hair and stared back over to Sasuke.

Sasuke at the moment was chasing Sakura in what looked to be the beginnings of a game of tag. Right before he grabbed Sakura he slipped on the snow and fell on his face. He laughed, but then Naruto came over and body slammed him from above. Sasuke looked like he was suffocating, but he kicked Naruto with his leg and slammed him in the stomach.

From there, Sasuke stood, tapping Naruto on the head, "Your it, dobe."

Naruto grouched and chased after him.

"I-I." he clinched his fist.

He didn't even know why he was listening to this man. He was some old guy he just met, but…but it felt like betraying Sasuke not to answer. The man was right. He just didn't know if he could do what the man was asking of him. Expecting of him would be more accurate.

"I want to try."

The man nodded his head with crossed arms, "That's all the kid can ask of you."

Kakashi unclenched his fists, feeling relief like he had just passed some kind of test or something.

"Whatever, I have to go." And if that wasn't the most childish thing he could have done.

Nonetheless, Kakashi walked away, seething with anger, but the closer he got to his little students the more the anger left him.

Once he was stood in front of them all, he stopped and blinked. They abruptly stopped their game of tag and in the most random poses too. After a second of zero movement, Naruto reached out and tapped the frozen Sasuke that was on one foot on the shoulder.

"Boop, your it." Naruto whispered creepily.

Then he felt over, slamming Sasuke into the hard ground.

Everything was back to normal.

But when they got back to the village, two hours later, Kakashi stopped Sasuke before he could run off like his other two teammates.

"Hey."

He had no idea what he was doing, but he couldn't help wanting to talk to Sasuke. He just needed that reassurance that he hadn't already fucked up.

Sasuke stopped mid-movement and turned around.

He looked at Kakashi curiously, but didn't speak, just raised an eyebrow.

And for a moment he just stared at Sasuke for a moment.

Too big coat, coming down to his knees, but tightly wrapped around himself, dark, ripped up jeans, with too many stains, and tiny sock hat still on his head covering very little, but the boy was unwilling take off.

Then Kakashi gaze went to the ear muffs squishing down the top of his duck-butt hair that was still peeking out, the ear muffs he had given him, and the ones he still hadn't taken off of his head.

He looked happy, despite the confused look he was giving Kakashi.

Kakashi couldn't help the comforting warmth that spread through him that he boy in front of him was happy.

Kakashi didn't need to talk to the kid about taking care of himself, hell he's doing a pretty good job on his own, he didn't need to ask him about the coat, or talk about what the kid could do to help himself.

"Sorry for holding you, kid. But, look, uh, being a jounin sensei means more than just training you. Find me whenever you need me."

It wasn't perfect, and it definitely wasn't what he wanted to say. It probably wasn't exactly what Sasuke wanted to hear either.

But the kid suddenly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Kakashi's neck. It surprised Kakashi, but Sasuke too.

Sasuke hadn't sought out physical contact in years. Kakashi hugged back a moment later. It only last five quick seconds, and neither say anything.

It's probably better that way.


	3. Chapter 3 The Skating Rink:

3

The Skating Rink:

 _Friendship that flows from the heart cannot be frozen by adversity, as the water that flows from the spring cannot congeal in winter._

 _X_

 _X_

X

Kakashi loved this time of year for the exact same reason he was bitter about it.

His father, it seemed, was always in the back of his mind. Like some omnipresent force, he always managed to sneak up into a memory of whatever Kakashi was doing.

On missions; he would remember how his dad would try and go as fast as possible to complete his own missions so he could be there to walk Kakashi home from the academy. Training; he remembered his father's lessons ringing throughout his head, _'_ _You got this Kakashi, now gather your chakra, and yes! You did it!'_ His father always narrated exactly what Kakashi did while trying to teach him something, like he was trying to walk him through it. When Kakashi ate at a 'come and go joint', he would remember how his father, at least twice a week took his time to prepare a big meal for himself and his son. They would sit at the table together, and Sakumo would listen to everything that happened to Kakashi during his training at the academy that day. Kakashi hadn't had a real home cooked meal since…heck, he couldn't even remember.

Kakashi tried to float through life like his father had done, like Obito could so easily do, but he still had a hard time achieving that goal. Kakashi thought these things whenever he shoveled down his food at that fast food joint, when he ran by his luxurious kitchen because he didn't want to cook, when he spent days out on missions just to clear his head. He tried, but that didn't mean he always succeeded.

Even when Kakashi was at the market he would remember his father letting people pass him in line when they had a lot of children, or just looked particularly worn out. As always in the leaf village, the first to come in line got the best pick of the fresh food at the stand. The fresh food was only kept at the front and had to be the last thing customers picked up, and Kakashi only wanted fresh food today. Kakashi was about to rip his hair out when he saw the line was all the way back like fifteen people! He didn't know how his dad found the patience to survive so peacefully because Kakashi couldn't help looking down the other shop aisles and trying to figure out which one was smallest. He stopped himself just barely from looking at the groceries the others were carrying, and figuring out which person would get through the line first.

It was early on Friday morning, but as it goes with unreliable news stations, it hadn't snowed like predicted.

Kakashi wished it would snow, but instead, Konoha received a shitty ice storm!

Everything; all the trees, plants, the ground, and houses, heck some of his Christmas lights even shattered from the cold, were all covered in sheet after sheet of ice.

It was a complete nightmare to walk around in, slipping and sliding everywhere Kakashi went.

He loved when it snowed, but he hated when it iced.

Kakashi was very nearly put in a sour mood. He first woke up to find Konoha to be an iced hell, second, he stubbed his toe walking to the bathroom, third, his new pup in training, Shiba, peed on the floor, then he made a disgusting batch of Fruit Cake. This was the first year he felt brave enough to try and recreate his dad's fruit cake recipe, even if he hated all fruit cake, he wanted to make it for memories sake. And lastly, he found that he lost the grocery list he had made the other night, Kakashi blamed Pakkun, even if the ninken swore he never touched his precious list.

The only thing that saved his mood for the day, was that fact that he saw a particularly familiar 'duck butt' hair styled head at the back of a line three shops away.

Kakashi slid out of his line, much to the couple of people that already trotted up behind him, pleasure. It wasn't like he was going to get anything real good and fresh at that market anyway, so Kakashi entertained himself with striding over to the Uchiha.

After the 'Hug Incident' as Kakashi took to calling it, the day before, both Kakashi and Sasuke had went their separate ways without saying much of anything about it. Sasuke thanked Kakashi for his offer of help whenever need be, and then mumbled something about having to go.

It was only a little awkward, and yeah, maybe it was supposed to be, Kakashi wasn't the expert on social interactions and how they are supposed to go.

Since the night before, whenever he thought of Sasuke, he felt his stomach flip chaotically, he'd been over the two's moment a hundred times in his head since last night, and it was just enough to very much freak him out.

Kakashi hoped that feeling didn't stay, he wanted to still feel comfortable around Sasuke. To Kakashi's upmost pleasure, when he stomped up to the young Uchiha, the pressure he had been feeling after the day before, vanished, and a knowing comfort and assurance settled into his gut.

Kakashi had been very worried that he would feel stressed out by Sasuke's presence, as he normally did when he thought he committed to anything. A drowning feeling always overtook him with unease until he destroyed what he had committed to, or weaseled his way out of the job. He was completely shocked that the feeling wasn't skyrocketing through his chest at this moment, and his mouth wasn't spewing any shit, and his intestines weren't being squeezed brutally, and he wasn't tormented by the thought of being needed and relied on again.

He felt….Okay. And to Kakashi, that thought that was amazing.

This was okay. They were okay. They were okay!

Kakashi chanted that in his head, and every time he did he felt his mood brighten.

Sasuke on the other hand was looking at Kakashi in confusion.

He was just standing there, staring at him, and Kakashi hadn't said anything. Not even a hello.

Kakashi shook himself from his revere of being impressed with himself and his positive emotions about the subject, and realized that he needed to say something.

He came over for a reason, but he couldn't really remember why at the moment. Was there a reason to begin with?

Kakashi didn't care, he was just so happy that he wasn't subconsciously trying to pull away, and he wasn't being crushed under some nervousness either.

Kakashi just decided to act casual, matched with Sasuke's stony expression, he guessed that was the right route.

"Yo," signature peace sign in place, "What's up?"

This seemed to relax Sasuke enough, and his tense posture seeped back into his normally soldier like stance of nonchalance.

Sasuke took a couple of steps forward as the line moved up, he was looking into the shoulder blades of the person in front of him. "Grocery shopping." He shrugged a shoulder while raising a basket up with his left hand unceremoniously, "Why did you leave the line you were waiting in? You lost your place."

Kakashi was surprised by this question, he hadn't been aware that Sasuke had known Kakashi was there as well. Kakashi let a sheepish smile grace his face and shrugged. "Eh." was the only answer Sasuke received.

Sasuke continuously walked forward as the line slowly dispersed, Kakashi went right along with him.

Being the nosy person Kakashi was, he studied the items Sasuke was going to buy. He couldn't help it if he wanted to. Kakashi had always been a curious soul.

Two boxes of bran cereal, a can of oats, a jar of peanut butter, and some crackers.

 _Wow, Sasuke, that's so exciting…._

Kakashi decided not to comment on the plain food choice, he still felt uncomfortable with the idea of resembling a parent to Sasuke too much. He wasn't looking to replace anyone. The terror of boundaries bleeding into one another, of falling into a role he has no business filling and no right to take on. Kakashi had agreed that he would look after the boy when he really needed it, but that didn't mean Kakashi was going to really enter the kid's life. Kakashi thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be the fun uncle instead. Someone there only in case something bad happened. That sounded better and a lot less responsible or reliable than a parent, or _father_.

The idea that he could be like an uncle to Sasuke made Kakashi feel better.

Kakashi didn't have any plans for today. Team 7 was off mission duty, a nice break from yesterday's workload, but to Kakashi, it was terrible thing. Too much time made it too easy to get distracted.

He wondered if he could get out of lazing around the cemetery with another activity, in a mood like today, it'd be best if he wasn't caught alone.

Maybe Sasuke would be training? Maybe he could train with Sasuke?

Sasuke spent enough hours alone at the training grounds anyway.

Something held Kakashi back from asking though, and it came in a form that Kakashi should have been expecting.

A Bushy browed, spandex wearing, bowl haircut sporting, sensei, cartwheeled into view, with his little protégé on his toes of course.

"Ka-Kaa-shii." Guy said, stretching his name intolerably long and making it sound more like a saying than an actual name. "Such a coincidence that I would run into you here!" he winked and his teeth sparkled.

Kakashi rolled his eye to the sky, he had a feeling this wasn't at all a coincidence, and that he knew exactly what Guy wanted to see him for.

Kakashi glanced over to the raven at his side, and caught him smirking, looking forward, and meeting none of their eyes. He looked far more pleased than he should be allowed to be.

Kakashi grit his teeth and turned around to meet Guy.

He nodded his head once, "Guy." He greeted coolly.

This plain almost non-existent greeting seemed to invigorate Guy, and he sent out a happy thumbs up to the whole area, Lee matching his stance and attitude.

"Good morning Kakashi sensei!" Lee greeted respectfully, but enthusiasm filled as well.

Kakashi greeted Lee, Sasuke remained forward, but his small smile didn't waver.

Guy took the reins of the conversation and spoke with the eagerness of a child on Christmas morning.

"I have come to you today to ask you to participate in our hundred and thirty-fourth eternal rival challenge!" He announced loudly enough that everyone around the outdoor stores looked at him with either annoyed faces, or ones of much amusement.

Kakashi sent them a single glare, not too occupied with what other people thought, but he didn't feel like they should act like Guy was an idiot. It wasn't like Guy never noticed their upturned noses when he was around.

So the man talked loud and dressed weird, maybe he sounded like he was on a game show, but he had helped to protect the village more times than Kakashi could count, and he would sacrifice himself to save any villager in a heartbeat.

He deserved better, at least Kakashi thought so. Sure, Kakashi acted like he didn't care a whole lot, but the man was really remarkable in Kakashi's eyes and should be respected and treated as such.

He quickly noted that both Guy and Lee were wearing their normal spandex, but with two slickery snow coats over it, and flexible fancy looking snow boots adorned both's feet. They both had headband shaped sweatbands that kept both of their ears warm as well.

Kakashi wished so bad that he had a camera. They both had their bright orange leg warmers on too, and the gloves they wore matched in color.

Kakashi would have bet a lot of money that Guy had bought all of this for Lee, it was kind of sweet and made Kakashi want to laugh, but it also made him feel real shitty because he hadn't even thought of giving Sasuke a coat, and here Guy was, looking like the kid's twin dressed in the same clothes and bringing him around wherever he went.

Kakashi glanced back at Sasuke, and confirmed his worried suspicion that yes, the kid was still wearing the crappy brown coat that the random old guy had given him a day prior.

 _Number one sensei award goes too…_

Kakashi really wished he could turn off the sarcasm in his head.

Kakashi composed himself and acted cool as a cucumber just the way he knew Guy would despise.

"Oh? Is it time for another challenge already?" he asked casually.

Guy burned with rage, "We haven't had a challenge in over a week! You are only trying to hold off on this one because you know it is my turn for choice of challenge!"

Kakashi rolled his eye, waiting for Guy to get all his long speech out, the man was known to be quite long winded.

"Aha! Have I finally scared you off? No! That would be impossible, you are my eternal rival, and you would never step down from a challenge! It must be about something else?"

He took on a lower voice, far more concerned and earnest, "Are you well my friend?"

Kakashi blinked for a minute, always amazed at Guy's heart, and ability to change from playful to serious so swiftly.

He ducked his head and squinted his eye, "Yes, I'm fine, Guy, just a bit 'Eh' today." Kakashi wouldn't lie to Guy. He'd been at his side since he could remember, even when he didn't want him there. For the longest time, Kakashi didn't really even know he was there; so caught in his own world that he became numb to most everything else. If anyone deserved the truth, it was Guy, but that didn't mean Kakashi would act real serious when giving it to him.

Guy smiled brightly, it was blinding. Kakashi was shocked how the sight brought him back to reality so easily. Lee high fived Guy from his side, "Does that mean you are able accept my challenge eternal rival?"

Kakashi nodded vaguely, "Uh huh."

Guy continued to rant, "Yes! Thank you for my chance to prove myself to you. When would you be willing? I'm expecting soon, for I already have our challenge in mind." If Guy was capable of smiling sneakily he probably would be from the tone of his voice, but instead of doing so he just produced another bright grin that was sincere and happy.

Kakashi only let a twinge of worry enter his mind, wondering what the hell Guy was planning.

Kakashi crossed his arms, "Whenever you are ready, Guy."

Guy jumped for joy, "Oh, wonderful! We showcase our youthful hearts in the form of an epic challenge! Meet me at the edge of the village in twenty three minutes! I should be properly ready then! See you then my friend."

Kakashi thought that if Guy could end his sentence with a smiley face, he would.

The gray haired man nodded his head at Guy, "I'll be prepared for anything." He placed a smirk on his face even if Guy couldn't completely see it. Guy always seemed to know what he was really feeling without even needing to see his face.

Guy saluted and ran off, Lee following suit.

Kakashi sighed loudly, but secretly was very happy to have the distraction today. Guy always knew what he needed to occupy his mind. He was hoping he wouldn't have to spend today alone, and then there was Guy, by his side, with the perfect solution.

Kakashi almost forgot Sasuke was there, but when the two idiots were completely out of sight, Sasuke spoke.

"I like them." Was the vague explanation he gave.

Kakashi didn't ask, but felt happiness swell inside him. He didn't know why he was glad that Sasuke liked his friend, that he approved, but it felt good.

It was almost laughable what with the way Sasuke nodded to himself as if he had assessed every possible aspect of both Lee and Guy's beings and found their records spotless just while listening to the conversation. But then again, Sasuke survived this long, he had to have some kind of good judge of character.

Kakashi only now realized that boy had already paid for his food and was completely out of line now.

Kakashi sifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, not sure what he should do or say.

Sasuke had it covered though, "I have to go put my groceries away." His eyes bored into the air between the two of them. To most Sasuke would look dazed, but Kakashi could tell his brain was still working hard. "I'll see you later. Your meeting Guy at the edge of the village, right?"

Kakashi nodded suspiciously, but Sasuke just tilted his head, pleased.

Only as Sasuke bobbed his up and down to a beat completely his own, did Kakashi notice the earmuffs he wore snuggling over his ears.

Kakashi resisted the urge to sigh contently and looked down. When he glanced back up it was to the back of the boy's head fluttering out of sight. This left Kakashi wondering what the heck was going on in the edge of the village and irritated that he somehow the kid had alluded him.

Everything could be so much easier if that kid wasn't so stubborn.

Then he realized that whatever was at the edge of the village was what Guy was planning for his challenge. Kakashi was still as he worried over what kind of challenge Guy had created for him.

 _Eh, I'll be fine….._

Kakashi had waited the twenty three minutes out before he thought about leaving to meet Guy, and then he waited fourteen more just to spite him.

By the time he had made his way across the village, it had already been forty four minutes, but this was Kakashi Hatake we were talking about, he couldn't be on time if his life depended on it.

Once he arrived, Kakashi stood shock still with a look of horror across the small part of his face that was showing.

Before the disgust stricken man was a lake, frozen over, by layer after layer of thickets of ice. On that ice were at least a couple hundred Genin, Chunnin, and civilians alike, skating around in circles happily.

 _Socializing mixed with ice walking…..could he go home now!_

There wasn't many attractions around Konoha, since they were a soul ninja village, they didn't take much time to practice arts of any sort. The little amount of civilians they did have, usually worked for restaurants or on just trying to keep the village running. They didn't have the time or money to make and do superfluous things like tourist attractions.

The villagers learned to appreciate temporary activities when they could. In the heat of summer natural springs were a popular spot for the children of the village, while the adults found comfort in underground ponds. Usually, the kiddos just had to find their own ways to entertain themselves, so when something like an actual skating rink showed up for free people flocked there like moths to a flame.

From the happy sounds coming from area it was as if this was the biggest thing to happen in Konoha in a long time. If Kakashi wasn't completely horrified, he would notice that it was kind of sad how such a small thing could get everyone so excited.

Kakashi was frozen for a good twenty seconds. That was apparently enough time for Guy to weasel his way through the large crowd around them, that was only growing bigger by the minute, and trot up to his rival happily.

Kakashi didn't even look at the man when he spoke, still horror struck by the scene before him.

"No." he stated flatly.

Guy rolled his eyes like he had dealt with this situation before.

"Kakashi." He said with a reasonable mix of amusement and tiredness in his voice, but still that underlying enthusiasm the man always carried.

"No." Kakashi said again while shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders at the same time. It seemed like a strange and conflicting movement, but Guy was accustomed to Kakashi's strange and conflicting ways. He smiled.

"You already agreed." Guy argued, "Besides, it's not like you to back out of a Rival Challenge?"

Kakashi glared intensely at Guy with his one eye.

"Yeah." He stated like the single word was a fact, "I agreed because I didn't know the outcome was going to be at the suspense of my dignity."

Guy grinned, "If that is the cost, so be it."

Kakashi chuckled at the man's blunt nature. If he was honest with himself, he would go to the ends of the earth for his friend. He would jump into the ocean during a hurricane for the man if it was necessary.

Though, swimming during a hurricane seemed like it was going to be less painful then this next experience Guy had chosen for them.

"Are you trying to humiliate me in front of the entire village?" he asked just because he felt like being troublesome. The bickering and poking fun were giving him a sense of normalcy that he needed on mind numbing days like today.

Guy put a fist up as he spoke, "Tis no need to worry my friend, only many of our beloved village's youth are present during this activity."

Kakashi let a lazy look fall onto his face while his eyebrow bent mischievously.

 _This was good._ _This was what he needed today._

"I don't know Guy," Kakashi said flippantly, "I see a lot of couples out there as well. Wouldn't you say they are all just burning with affection." Kakashi was hoping to get a rise from the man. He was usually very embarrassed by public shows of affection, screeching about youth's innocence.

But instead of blushing madly and sputtering uncontrollably, Guy's eyes widened as he searched around. He watched as cute couples held hands around the makeshift rink, skating in unison. Then the man grinned at Kakashi, "Very true, I see many youth's love blooming for each other, it is quite beautiful this time of year, wouldn't you agree."

Kakashi deadpanned, and Guy's smile just broadened. He raised two pairs of skates by the laces.

Kakashi begrudgingly took the glossy black pair of skates Guy held out for him, Kakashi briefly noticing that the bushy browed man had kept the scruffier pair for himself.

They both made their way to an empty bench, which was very hard to find through the crowds of people.

The thing that most people didn't know about Kakashi's best friend Guy is that, as a child, his father signed him up for figure skating lessons in a village a couple hours away. Guy had been a very uncoordinated child, too lanky and eager to focus his skills. His dad thought that pinpointing his son's sporadic movements to hone his strength and mind into something controlled, like figure skating, he would be able to refine his actions. Looking at the man now, Kakashi had to agree that it really did well for him. It muscled his body in the lean kind of way, and allowed his long limbs to find something that they were useful for.

Kakashi would normally use this kind of information to openly mock Guy, but the man was so stupidly confident about his love for the sport that it was like trying to poke fun at a rock.

Kakashi on the other hand, was a shit ice skater.

He'd been to exactly one ice skating rink in his whole life. It had been a random luck grabbed time when his father was traveling on a measly C ranked mission, and had invited Kakashi along for the trip. It had been the fanciest village Kakashi had ever seen. Huge buildings everywhere, and thousands and thousands of people! It was one of the most exciting things Kakashi did as a child. There was a festival in the village going on at the time, something huge for the holidays, and after the mission in the day was complete, his father and him stayed until night so they could skate on the humongous skating rink they had set up with all the bells and whistles. There was even a giant Christmas tree in the center of the rink; it was all aglow and sparkling.

He'd stepped one foot on the ice and fell flat on his ass. Throughout the rest of the night he continued to eat it on the ice. His father was always at his side, laughing, but constantly helping him back up. Kakashi remembered his dad looking much too pleased to find something his talent driven, prodigy son couldn't grasp immediately.

His father died that year and he hadn't been on the ice since. Not that it had been intentional, but now when he thought of ice skating, he associated it with his dad. He hadn't avoided it totally on purpose, only declining all chances to skate because he knew he'd make a fool of himself, but now, when he was really about to skate again, he felt a twisting in his chest. A yearning to look over his shoulder and find his dad by his side, laughing in his suspense like the first time he'd gone.

The crowd around them was truly nothing compared to the crowd that had been surrounding him when he went skating with his dad, but even despite that, it made him feel a little tingle of familiarity, a spark of the anxiety mixed in with nerves and excitement he'd felt that first time with his dad.

So off he went on a Friday morning, grumbling as Guy cheerfully dragged him to the so called 'rink' which really wasn't anything more than a sea of people on a large frozen puddle.

Once Kakashi was really out there, he was like five percent less resentful for the idea.

The whole atmosphere of the area was light.

 _Happy,_ Kakashi reminded himself.

There were kid's racing around, glad to be free, and groups of teens were rushing around the skating rink, jumping at the chance to act their age for once. Even a few geezers worked up energy to come out here to play on the ice. There was meaningless chatter, hundreds of people stumbling around each other trying to get moving, screaming from random kids who looked to be in a giant re-lay race, and a whole lot of laughter filling the air. The good kind of laughter, Kakashi noted, no malice or underlying truths at all.

It was all irritatingly contagious, even if he was just invited here as a sacrifice made for humiliation.

Not until they got through the first crowd of people, the one that was always near the first entering sides no matter what rink you go to, Kakashi felt his nerves kick back in.

He looked around desperately for a wall to grab onto as his legs wobbled and arms were held out at his sides to keep him steady.

Kakashi was devastated to remember that this was a 'Homegrown' kind of skating rink, and walls to hang onto were out of the question.

Kakashi bent his knees in tightly and pointed his toes towards one and other until he stopped completely. He sighed in relief, feeling content until Guy's voice met his ears.

"Why did you stop my rival?" Guy said while skating circles around the man with ease. Kakashi growled underneath his breath. Anyone else, he would have socked in the face, but Guy was Guy, and he meant nothing by the constant circling and the look of pure bliss on his face as he moved. He only meant that he was glad to be there and glad to be there Kakashi.

"Are you in need of my assistance Kakashi?" Guy asked while bending down to where Kakashi was half bent over.

Kakashi's gritted teeth went lax and he begrudgingly accepted Guy's hand up.

Guy straightened Kakashi out and elbowed him in the side, smiling jovially.

They finally made it to a nice open area and Guy started to glide like he was born to be on the ice, talking Kakashi's ear off while he did, not even looking like the movement took any effort.

Kakashi tried for about two point five seconds to actually listen to the man blather about, but he realized all too soon that he needed all his concentration to make sure he didn't break his legs slipping on the ice.

After a while, Kakashi felt like he was starting to get used to the ice, slowly adapting to the feeling of his weight being balanced on small shards of metal.

The feeling of 'I'm about to fall' never truly left Kakashi, a constant inkling in the back of his mind, but he did relax some, and Guy's continuous voice in the background of his monotone mind helped to keep him grounded to the present.

In the small crevices of his mind, he felt a tiny amount of pleasure in the activity at hand, and grasped those fleeting moments and chased them around the rink.

As Kakashi's confidence grew, his small mindedness widened, and soon, he wasn't staring at his feet anymore, and he was taking actual strides instead of stumped steps.

Kakashi really wished he would have seen it, really wished he had some sort of prediction of the next second, because he could have saved himself at least part of the humiliation he now felt.

Kakashi heard it, and he should have known.

The cursed sound of blabbering fifteen year olds.

Kakashi could have sworn he smelt the bad attitude and discipline issues on their clothes as they passed.

The four teenage boys were wearing 'get the shit knocked out you' slicker pants, sharp black skates and the kind of graphic T-shirts that made you have to take a second look at them to make sure what you first read was what the fabric really said. They were all unwilling to wear coats, hats, or gloves, and were grinning hugely at one and other despite their red tinted faces.

Kakashi held his breath as they weaved in and out between him and Guy like lightening streaks.

Luckily they slid right by with ease.

Kakashi let his breath go in relief, but he soon realized that he acted too soon.

He turned a smiled at Guy, a nice squinted eye smile too, and at that moment he wasn't looking at the ground so he didn't know to avoid the hitch in the ice.

Kakashi, to his credit, moved and twisted with amazing grace. It wasn't enough though, for the boy's sharp toothed skate had left a small chink in the ground, and just when Kakashi was almost balanced out, his skate slipped into it.

He was chucked forward with his whole weight force, but with a last effort to remain standing he let his hands fall to the ground first. He wiggled funnily for a moment, but eventually his hands hit the ground gently, and Guy let out a deep gasp from his side.

The good thing, was the fact that the boys had already sped away, long gone and not even thinking about how Kakashi Hatake had just wriggled his way out eating it on the ice. The bad thing was the dozens of heads that turned to stare at them after Kakashi had let out a couple of sounds that he wasn't proud of while he was falling.

Kakashi blushed immediately, but like the good friend Guy was, he went into the exact same position Kakashi was in, and started skating small circles.

"What is this new type of skating technic that you have come up with?"

Kakashi sagged letting all his tension fall out of him as he watched his best friend make a fool of himself so he wasn't alone.

After a moment, all the interested strangers went back to their own business, no longer curious, for Guy was normally strange, and it wasn't special to see such occurrences.

Kakashi waited a minute before speaking, letting Guy's laughter at the awkward situation pass over in waves.

"So…What are the odds of a photo of this becoming the headline of _The Konoha Post?_ "

Guy nodded his head, but from the upside down view both men were at, it looked more like the man was trying to push the blood rushing into his brain away.

"I'd say we have 10/10 chance that this will be the most popular story for weeks to come my friend. Very unfortunate indeed."

Kakashi laughed at the serious look Guy wore. They were silent and still until Kakashi felt too stupid hanging around with their asses in the air.

"So, this is the new hip way to skate, huh? Real smooth. I don't know if I'm feeling it though. I think my old man back is going to break." Kakashi joked. He knew Guy always got enthusiastic when he made fun of himself even just a tad bit.

Guy's back went rigid immediately, "Don't say such things! You are in your prime Kakashi! We are starting you on a daily stretching routine immediately! In fact, if we can't stay like this all day, I will-"

Guy continued on, and Kakashi couldn't help the small smile that graced his face. It felt good to be so thoroughly cared for.

Kakashi straightened with a pained grunt. _Maybe he really did need those stretching routines._

Guy let his body sag instead of holding it up, and so his head touched the top of the ice and he could clearly see what was behind him.

Then he moved his head forward and looked up at Kakashi.

Guy's lip quirked up in the funny way it does sometimes when he's thinking.

"What?" Kakashi asked, amused.

Guy pronounced his next words clearly, as if that would help his friend hear him better. "I think that your prodigy student is here. Uchiha is it?" He flopped back down to look between his legs.

Kakashi followed Guy's eyes and sure enough, there stood none other than Sasuke Uchiha, decked out in his too-big coat, and very ratty pair of brown rental skates.

He was moving much too delicately on the ice for someone who had zero social skills and probably wouldn't go to a real ice rink unless he was forced there.

Kakashi didn't think it was fair.

"Nope" Kakashi said popping the 'P', "I don't have a single prodigy student. Unlike you, I don't play favorites."

Guy flipped his head back again, and glared at him with forced intensity. It was pointless to try and intimidate Kakashi, especially when he was upside down.

Guy put up his finger and shook it like Iruka would do to trouble making academy students.

"I don't play favorites Kakashi, you know that I love my students all with my entire being. But anyone with an ounce of observation skills could tell that I connect most with Lee. Just like anyone with even only one eyeball such as yourself could tell that you have connected most with this…strange hair-styled student of yours."

Kakashi pursed his lips even if it wasn't visible.

He wasn't sure how he wanted to respond, but he definitely wanted to handle this situation maturely. "Looks who's talking bowl cut head."

Damn.

Guy laughed joyfully, and bent his head back down to watch Sasuke.

"His name is Sasuke by the way." Kakashi couldn't help but adding petulantly, he didn't know why, but he wanted Guy to know him by name, not only by 'Uchiha.'

Guy hummed in acknowledgment.

"Very passionate name, I'm sure he'll be a splendid ninja someday." He said it offhandedly, like it was the most normal thing in the world to say about a stranger.

Kakashi chuckled softly while shaking his head.

Guy then jumped from the strange upside down position like he'd been shocked with Kakashi's Chidori.

He jumped up and down on his skates, beaming happily. Kakashi was momentarily awed that the man could do such a thing on ice skates.

"Are you ready for our challenge, Kaa-kah-shii?" He asked, stretching his name like he usually did.

Kakashi felt his stomach flip at the thought of moving any faster than what he'd done so far.

He grimaced internally while fixing his gloves to stall just a bit longer.

"Yes." He finally stated to Guy's, who was twitchy with excitement, relief.

"YOSH! Our race will be to see who can make three laps around the skating rink first!"

Kakashi sighed in that long lasting kind of way.

"Oh, do you not think that challenge enough? We could try it on our hands? Do you think that would be more sufficient?" Guy asked, and the cruel part was that he was totally serious.

Kakashi squinted his eye with headache inducing pain, "How did you become such an important part of my life?"

XXX

Kakashi spent the next hour or so of his life participating in a very _very_ embarrassing skating race around the lake.

Of course, Guy's team had to be there to support their sensei, whooping and hollering at the lap mark as Guy completely creamed him.

Kakashi skated with numb toes from lack of blood and movement, and small amounts of pleasure that he didn't want to acknowledge ringing through him like sleigh bells.

Okay, a race was a race, and he wasn't doing as horribly as he thought he would, and Guy had a way to make anything light hearted. Fine! He was maybe having the smallest, littlest, tidbit of a good time.

But Guy didn't need to know that, otherwise he might suggest more time spent on the ice.

Unlike the two's regular races, they were very far apart from each other instead of toe to toe.

Kakashi kept a keen eye on the back of Guy's head as he weaved in and out of the crowd gracefully.

He only tripped once, keeping focus the second time around to keep his feet planted and balance centered.

In the end, it wasn't too surprising who the victor was.

But hey, Kakashi was pretty proud of himself. He'd actually made it the three laps!

The two men grabbed each other's two first fingers in a sign of a good match after their race just like they always did.

Tenten, of course, had miraculously pulled candy canes out of her satchel and given one to everyone before skating away with her teammates. Guy grinned around his peppermint stick and Kakashi wondered what it was like to smile for no reason other than having a nice piece of candy to suck on. Just watching Guy's happiness made Kakashi's insides warm, he even felt his lips start to quirk up on their own accord.

Guy moved the candy cane to the side of his mouth like it was a cigarette and skated backwards in front of Kakashi so he could see him as he spoke.

"So…What do you say to another race?"

Hours later led Guy and Kakashi to sitting on a nearby bench where usually villagers would fish from, but instead was being used as a place to take a rest from their "Vigorous workout" as Guy had called it.

The Ice rink was still pretty full, but there was no longer a buzzing energy about the place, it was replaced with a sort of calm that can only be achieved within the confines of winter.

They both took to staying silent and scouring the crowd for their students.

Kakashi couldn't help the choked laugh that left him when he watched Naruto try and drag a very reluctant Iruka onto the ice, only to pull so hard that they both splatted onto the ground painfully hard.

There was a big cracked hole in the ground from where they both had landed.

Guy sighed contently beside his friend, happy to watch their students devour their free time.

Kakashi was always fascinated by this part of Guy. For all the love Guy had for being the center of attention and always being the one up to bat, there were these times when he loved to just sit back and watch. He said it was exciting to see how the youth fared on their own, "We must learn from our past but also our future, these children are our future."

Kakashi loved observing people. He'd say it was right up there with reading his Icha Icha Paradise books on list of favorite hobbies.

A flash of bubble gum pink hair caught his eye in the far end of the skating rink to his right. He zoned in on that and was pleased to see the entirety of his team all skating about.

Sakura and Naruto were both in front, skating right next to each other, and the scene might have been sweet if not for the angry look they both wore identically. They two seemed to be shouting at each other for some reason or another. Right behind them, just three steps farther back, was Sasuke skating in a curvy sort of pattern and wide eyes that gave him a permanently surprised look.

No one would recognize it unless they knew the boy, but Sasuke was definitely still aware of his surroundings and probably even still listening to Sakura and Naruto's babble. Kakashi's extremely sharp eye could catch the smallest amount of movement from Sasuke's mouth only when he seemed to be in agreement or disagreement with one of his two friends.

Kakashi recognized that look on Sasuke. He got this way sometimes on missions or training days that were extra-long. He was there, but he wasn't all in the present. When this was reported in his academy days, the leaders struggled with their concern for if this would affect Sasuke's ninja abilities. Kakashi hadn't quite believed it until he'd seen it in true action, but after close up inspection, he personally didn't believe it affected Sasuke's ninja duties much at all. The boy's body knew exactly what to do in a crisis whether his mind was completely present or not. He agreed to keep the boy on his team, but he was forced to promise to report back to the village if anything did happen while he was like this.

Fat chance.

Kakashi wasn't telling anybody anything if he didn't have to.

The three interlaced through a large crowd that they needed to get around, and while Sakura and Naruto both stumbled some and even took a moment to stop yelling at each other, Sasuke unfazed, swept around the people and in between the tiniest gaps. His eyes didn't even change direction to look at any of the people. His dark orbs were focused solely on what was in front of him, never wavering from his target of the cold wind laying wait of his flushed face.

Now Naruto and Sakura were skating just a little ways behind Sasuke instead of the other way around, but it didn't seem to bother any of them and they continued on seamlessly.

Kakashi stood and stretched himself out and Guy made a curious noise from beside him.

The white haired man glanced over to his friend, "This was nice."

For now, that was the best Kakashi could do. Heck, coming from him, that was practically and marriage proposal.

Kakashi couldn't see it, but Guy nodded to himself just the smallest of fractions and smiled real small and soft.

"I had a nice time too, my friend. Until next time." He clapped a hand to Kakashi's shoulder all rough and heavy in his boyish way. Then stretched out his muscles as well and skated away.

 _Probably in search of Lee-_ Kakashi thought reasonably.

Kakashi tried not to dwell on the appreciation he felt flare up in him when Guy just _knew_ that Kakashi wanted to be apart now, and that he didn't even have to ask, Guy just got up without making a big deal, and left him to himself. No questions asked.

Kakashi felt a wave of fear creep up on him at the prospect of stepping on the ice again, this time alone, but he hid away in his chest safely. He wanted to see his team.

He stepped out onto the ice, meeting eyes with his teammates. It was weird, like they all were connected on the same wave length somehow. They all just seemed to look up at the right time to notice one and other. Before Kakashi even had a moment to feel pride for his team, he felt a fatal flip in his chest, and his hands and knees were meeting the cold surface of the ice.

For the first second, Kakashi hadn't even realized what happened, just that his knees ached and his hands felt like they were being burnt.

Then he was surrounded by his freakishly worried students.

Sakura's shrill shriek met his ears and he almost groaned.

Naruto was on his hands and knees right next to him, talking five miles a minute, asking him if he wanted him to make him a couple clones so they could all help him up.

He waved them off and smacked their hands away with a huff, but honestly their worry wasn't unappreciated.

He then chuckled to make sure they weren't too concerned for him.

"I'm fine. I'm fine…..yes really Naruto….No Sakura I don't need a hospital! I'm not that fragile!"

This seemed to appease the two and they backed off some.

Sasuke on the other hand was standing very close, not helping him up like Kakashi had stated he didn't want, but glaring down at him in a way that made him look like he was trying to restrain himself.

Kakashi slowly raised himself from the ground checking over his body inconspicuously as he did so. He saw Sasuke clinch his fists tightly when he noticed the rips on his pants and icy residue that had already gathered on his clothing from the fall.

He was in an sore sort of pain, but nothing he couldn't handle, and luckily his hands weren't cut up like he thought they would be. His gloves had saved him from that tragedy.

Since he'd already wiped out once today, this wasn't as interesting for everybody to look at, though he was still receiving a pretty fair amount of stares for his blunder, funny enough, just as soon as they come they were fearfully taken away.

It may have been due to the combined efforts of Sakura and Sasuke's darkest looks, but Kakashi didn't need to know that.

It took a couple minutes for Naruto to get out all his jokes about his sensei's epic fail, and after that, a little while longer of the retelling of what had happened even if everyone he was telling had been there as well.

It's a blurry mess of what happened after that.

They all ended up skating a couple laps together.

Kakashi tried hard to pay attention to his students as they each overlap each other's speech trying to tell the 'correct' version of their epic tag game they'd had that morning on the ice.

They played on teams against all of the rookie ninja.

It seems they heartbreakingly lost the game and Naruto made it very clear that he blamed Sasuke for their loss.

Apparently, Sasuke had stopped skating to help up some weird shy girl who had slipped during the game. She'd been being chased and fell. The person that was 'IT' at the time was someone they all three called 'This dog kid' and he bypassed the shy girl who fell and went straight in for the kill on Sasuke.

Now, how this one time being 'IT' cost them all the whole entire game, Kakashi had no idea, but he definitely didn't miss the way Sasuke glared heatedly at the two of his teammates when they started talking about it.

Kakashi was still struggling to skate the entire time, and while Sakura ignored it purposefully, and Naruto seemed oblivious in light of his epic stories, Sasuke was by his side.

The boy would look up at him every time he stutter stepped and would get this knowing look on his face. Kakashi kept stumbling despite his best efforts to stay straight. His feet were starting to throb uncomfortably, the blood feeling like they had left them ages ago.

But he kept going because Sasuke was at his side and his head felt fuller than it had all day.

The whole situation gave him the feeling of realness that he'd been missing today, and that was all Kakashi needed for now.

Sasuke was laughing at him now, but constantly helping him back up. Kakashi thought he looked much too pleased to find something his sensei couldn't grasp as well as he could.

The immediate reaction to this realization was to twist away from the familiarity of it all.

But he didn't, and he didn't want to spend his time to figure out why.

Instead he basked in it.

If he was one for introspection, he'd notice the irony.

He'd been trying so hard to live in the moment, and now he was doing it by accident. He would have laughed but he couldn't, his mind was captured by the boy beside him.

Sasuke was laughing. It was a soft and unsure sound. Kakashi wasn't quite fooled by the soft exterior-he knows Sasuke can be kind and awkward and gentle, but he's felt the boy's fist against his face in plenty of their training practices, and he knows he's got a fire in him.

One that'd likely get him in trouble one of these days, but Kakashi thinks he might be warming up to the idea of him being the one to get him out of it.

A lot of stuttering questions and beating around the bush later, and they are all four squished onto the bench he and Guy had sat at earlier.

Sakura was in between Naruto and Sasuke happily squeezing herself into place, while Kakashi sat comfortably on the entire right side of the bench that the three had left for him.

 _Ah, it's good to be the sensei._

The December air was cold, but the sunshine was clear and unobstructed, sure to melt the ice if it became much warmer.

Sakura tried resting her head on Sasuke's shoulder but he shook her off almost instantly with a warning glare. She huffed but settled for knowing that she was as close as any girl ever got to be to Sasuke.

Kakashi couldn't help the memory that flashed through his head at that moment.

It was of him and his team years ago.

Unlike when he blocked out memories from when he was a child with his father, he relaxed into the memories that involved his team and sensei.

This particular one was kind of bitter because it reminded him of how dark of place he'd been in when he was young, but he let it pass through his mind anyway.

His eyes slipped closed while he imagined the memory as clearly as if it was right in front of him.

 _It was one of those weird winter days when the sun shines hot and wind blows cold, when it could be spring in the sun, but icy in the shade._ _It was like this every year at the beginning of winter in Konoha._ _Like a morning of the pale season was still trying to cling to its autumn roots._

 _He remembered Rin was always a light in their lives even when the winter chill tried to consume her._ _She loved the warmer seasons and even though it was clear she never quite enjoyed the cold, she never said anything about it._

 _Flowers had always played a big role in Rin's life. Kakashi hadn't known until they had been a team, but Obito was well aware of this fact._ _They were how she displayed her emotions, her opinions, often times her feelings._ _Surprisingly, she was a rather private person despite the joy and openness she seemed to radiate. She didn't enjoy the spotlight for she was quite shy; the flowers always gave her a hard time keeping to herself though._

 _At first, the flowers did nothing except turn to her when she walked by, Kakashi noticed of course, he wasn't blind or oblivious like some of his other classmates, but he never saw concern for this strange occurrence._ _As she got older and faced more intense emotions, they began to bloom whenever she felt something strongly._

 _Sure, occasionally people would find it strange that flowers, no matter the type or time of year it was, bloomed around her, but she was such a pleasant little thing, everyone around her couldn't care less, just happy to be in her presence . And she never drew attention to herself or her own talents, always lifting other people before herself._

 _It wasn't a rare occasion to see to trails of Anthurium, Aster, and Columbine falling the girl's soft footsteps._

 _By the time they had become a team, flowers began to bloom around her constantly._ _Kakashi never took the chance to ask Obito if he'd asked Rin about it himself, but in spite of how much he ogled over the young girl, he never brought up her gift with plants._

 _The flowers never wilted or died and grew anywhere and everywhere she was!_ _They stayed by her side no matter what._

 _When Obito started finding Daisies in his weapons pouch he all but fainted with joy._

 _Minato would just smile in that soft and understanding way when she would turn completely red and apologize profusely every time Hydrangea would grow out of his hair._

 _Obito took his sweet time rubbing it in his face that she never made flowers grow for Kakashi, but what Kakashi didn't say was that every morning he found Jonquil from his shoes._

 _He always just picked them and re-planted them in little pots every time one of the flowers would die. Kakashi wasn't verbal with his suspicions of the flowers meaning her feelings, but that just meant he did private research. He found a book at the library on flower meanings. He was quite amused to find out that Daisies represented 'innocence and cheerfulness' because Obito was the least innocent child Kakashi had ever met! But as reading farther, he found that it also meant 'loyal love.' At that age, Kakashi felt he knew nothing of love so he didn't think should be one to judge what Rin's flowers meant._

 _Kakashi threw out the book and never looked back at it the day he found Jonquil in the glossary of it._

 _Jonquil: Predominantly a spring perennial plant. It can be otherwise known as a Daffodil._

 _A widely cultivated Narcissus with cluster of small fragrant yellow flowers and cylindrical leaves._

 _Meaning: 'A Desire for a return of affection'_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _._

He accidently let a sigh release from somewhere deep inside his bones and he opened his eyes to find a young Uchiha giving him a raised eyebrow that wasn't really raised, (He must not have as good muscles in his face as me) but Kakashi still got the point.

"Uh, sensei? Are you okay, what are you doing?" Sasuke asked casually, not even looking at Kakashi, dutifully focusing on something interesting beside his head, but Kakashi could hear the concern in his voice, but refused to see it in his dark eyes.

Sasuke scuffed his foot on the ground and tilted his head.

Kakashi looked down, barely peeking through his eye. To anyone else, he would have looked like a crazy man, but Sasuke just peered up at him with blank look.

Kakashi straightened out, his body going lax at the sight of the young Uchiha.

"Oh, just sleeping while standing. I had to do it for ANBU training purposes." He shrugged his shoulders, still not quite meeting Sasuke's eyes, maybe just a little afraid of what he'd find there.

Sasuke snorted, and shook his head.

Sasuke then nodded in a going with it kind of way, not unwilling to ask for farther reassurance, but knowing that Kakashi had none to give.

Kakashi's eyes slipped closed again as he let his new team's voices linger in his head and play a symphony with the memories of Obito, Rin and Minato.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

I'd appreciate it if you'd comment! I will try my best to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, but I will have to work around my school and other projects, so I can't be sure when they will be done. Thank you again for reading:D


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